Ullrich takes Tour de Suisse with time trial win

CyclingNews.com | Ullrich takes second Tour de Suisse title

Jan Ullrich took a 2nd career Tour de Suisse win, winning the final stage time trial by more than 20 seconds over his nearest competition.

Ullrich mastered the stage despite a heavy rain that started shortly before der Kaiser took to the streets. Nevertheless, Ullrich was 12 seconds up on race leader Koldo Gil at the first time check, and only got faster from there.

Ullrich's victory in his preferred Tour de France warmup showed he could stay close to the climbers on the climbing stages, and that he's still the man to beat in a time trial. On a Tour route widely considered to favor time trial specialists, he looks well-positioned to take a second career Tour win.

Davitamon-Lotto's Cadel Evans, active in the final stages of Saturday's Stage 8, was 2nd on the day, 22 seconds behind Ullrich. He was followed by Angel Vicioso of Astaná-Würth at 31 seconds, and Discovery Channel's Janez Brajkovic at 46 seconds and Ullrich's T-Mobile teammate Linus Gerdemann at 51 seconds. The best placed American was next: CSC's Christian Vande Velde, 6th at 52 seconds.

Koldo Gil, who came into the day leading the race, with a 50 second gap to Ullrich, was a respectable 9th on the day, at 1:14, to save 2nd overall. Jorg Jaksche likewise slipped one place with a 10th place finish on the day.

Brajkovic was able to move into the overall Top 5 with his excellent ride.

2006 Tour of Switzerland
Overall Top 10:

1. Jan Ullrich, T-Mobile, in 38:21:36
2. Koldo Gil, Saunier Duval-Prodir, at :24
3. Jorg Jaksche, Astaná-Würth, at 1:03
4. Angel Vicioso, Astaná-Würth, at 1:44
5. Janez Brajkovic, Discovery Channel, at 2:33
6. Frank Schleck, CSC, at 2:56
7. Linus Gerdemann, T-Mobile Team, at 3:31
8. Giampaolo Caruso, Astaná-Würth, at 4:20
9. Vladimir Karpets, Caisse d'Epargne, at 4:27
10. Cadel Evans, Davitamon-Lotto, at 5:01

Also:

VeloNews.com | Ullrich takes Swiss Tour with strong TT

VeloNews quotes Ullrich:

“It's so close before the Tour de France, and it proves to me that I have the performance and I'm ready for the Tour,” he said. “It's the last little bit. It's really the last polishing...Now I already feel that I'm at 90 percent and I can work on the last 10 before the Tour de France.”